[Recipe] Mexican Rice with Sausage Recipe

A midweek post calls for an easy one dish meal! Don’t be fooled by the fiery red appearance of this Mexican rice. It is not tongue numbing, blow your top off hot and spicy. After all we are not talking about Szechuan dishes here. With that being said, this little rice number is definitely not apologetic in terms of flavours.

This Mexican rice was cooked in tempered spices of ground cumin, oregano, sweet paprika, some chipotle in adobo sauce (adjust to taste) and crushed tomatoes as well as broth. Like many Mexican dishes, I think chipotle in adobo sauce really made the dish. This is no exception.

A one-dish meal is not complete without protein. It must be the Australia Day effect that I have an urge for stocking up on sausages ha! Since I rarely featured sausages on my blog, I thought this would be a good recipe to share around. This is also a grown up version of my childhood favourite food combo of plain rice with sausages and ketchup which strangely, still appeals to me until this day.

Unlike my childhood days when sausages were usually cooked in the pan with cooking oil, nowadays, I just cook them in oven without any oil simply because you can drain the fat as well as making the exterior crispy without messing up the stove. For this dish, I precooked the sausages in the oven for 10 minutes and continue to cook them in the rice. Do you cook sausages in the oven too?

I hope you’ll like this rice dish especially since it tastes even better the next day. I’m soooo… looking forward to my packed lunch tomorrow!

What you’ll need to make 4 servings:-

1/2 tbsp ground paprika ( I used sweet paprika, but normal paprika will work too)

2 tsps ground cumin

1/2 tbsp chopped chipotle in adobo sauce (adjust to taste)

1½ cup basmati rice

400g canned chopped tomatoes

1¼ cup chicken stock

1 cup frozen peas

1 large red capsicum (bell pepper), cut into chunks

Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Allow for 30 to 45 minutes of cooking time + 10 minutes of resting time

Method:-

Precook the sausages in a preheated oven of 180C on a baking paper lined tray for 10 minutes. While the sausages are cooking in the oven, use the time to prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a large heavy base non-stick pot, add cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add onion and saute until translucent over low-medium flame. Then reduce the flame to low, add garlic, dried oregano, ground paprika, ground cumin and chipotle in adobo sauce and saute until the mixture is aromatic and the oil slightly separates from the mixture. Add basmati rice and toss to coat the rice with the tempered spices over low heat. Add chopped tomatoes and chicken stock to the rice to make sure the liquid is evenly distributed with the rice and then add sausages ( you may need to cut in bite size pieces if you could not get the mini sized ones), frozen peas and capsicum chunks. Turn the flame over high until the mixture start to bubble and then cover with a lid and turn the flame to low. Allow the rice to cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Check if the rice is done. If it appears to be undercooked, don’t worry, put the lid back on and cook further over low heat for another 10 to 15 minutes. Allow the rice to rest for another 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Please note when you transfer rice from the pot to the serving plate, try not to scrape the bottom part of the rice as it would be crusty and burnt.

1/2 tbsp ground paprika ( I used sweet paprika, but normal paprika will work too)

2 tsps ground cumin

1/2 tbsp chopped chipotle in adobo sauce (adjust to taste)

1½ cup basmati rice

400g canned chopped tomatoes

1¼ cup chicken stock

1 cup frozen peas

1 large red capsicum (bell pepper), cut into chunks

Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Instructions

Precook the sausages in a preheated oven of 180C on a baking paper lined tray for 10 minutes. While the sausages are cooking in the oven, use the time to prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a large heavy base non-stick pot, add cooking oil. When the oil is hot, add onion and saute until translucent over low-medium flame.

Reduce the flame to low, add garlic, dried oregano, ground paprika, ground cumin and chipotle in adobo sauce and saute until the mixture is aromatic and the oil slightly separates from the mixture.

Add basmati rice and toss to coat the rice with the tempered spices over low heat.

Add chopped tomatoes and chicken stock to the rice to make sure the liquid is evenly distributed with the rice and then add sausages ( you may need to cut in bite size pieces if you could not get the mini sized ones), frozen peas and capsicum chunks.

Turn the flame over high until the mixture start to bubble and then cover with a lid and turn the flame to low. Allow the rice to cook over low heat for 30 minutes. Check if the rice is done. If it appears to be undercooked, don't worry, put the lid back on and cook further over low heat for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Allow the rice to rest for another 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve immediately.

Notes

Please note when you transfer rice from the pot to the serving plate, try not to scrape the bottom part of the rice as it would be crusty and burnt.

Yes you can definitely substitute the sausages with say, chicken. You may want to season the chicken with Mexican seasonings, brown them first before adding to the rice for cooking. Hope this helps! Emily x

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